MetaFilter posts tagged with sound and technology

Oldest recorded voice

stbalbach — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:34:55 -0800

Last year we discussed a recently discovered 10-second audio recording from 1860 that was thought to be the oldest known recorded human voice, a girl or woman singing the 18th century French folk song “Au Clair de la Lune”. Turns out, it was being played too fast - slow it down and it's the voice of the inventor himself. As well, a number of other recordings have been found, pushing back the oldest recording to 1857. Hear it all on NPR (5-min). “Au Clair de la Lune” various renditions. *France Gall - Au clair de la lune (1964) *Café Crème 2 *au claire de la lune *Au Clair de la Lune

Tubular bells?

arcanecrowbar — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:31:46 -0800

"Next-generation loudspeakers could be as thin as paper, as clear as glass, and as stretchable as rubber." Making sound from heat and vice versa is nothing new, but a flat loudspeaker sure would be cool, provided nothing goes wrong. [previously.]

That giant fountain projection thing

Artw — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:39:58 -0800

Primal source at GLOW (video), Burble London (an implementation of Open Burble) (video), Evoke (video) - the transformative artworks of Haque Design and Research. Interview with Usman Haque. Previously.

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison See also Phonoautograph

y2karl — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:49:18 -0800

Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison
The Phonoautograph
The history of the Phonoautograph. A technology in which you can still buy stock.

Edward Samuel's Illustrated History of Copyright

carter — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:49:00 -0800

Edward Samuel's Illustrated History of Copyright A fascinating illustrated historical tour, looking at how different technologies have shaped how we think about copyright and intellectual property.

Stainless Steel Ondine

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:18:18 -0800

Steve Mann's hydraulophone with sculpture gallery and performance video snippets: [1] [2] [3]

I've got moves you haven't even seen yet

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:29:51 -0800

What is the relationship between the optical groove in a record or wax cylinder and sound, and how can we use this to recover analog recordings from the past? Dr. Carl Haber explains IRENE (.pdf; begin at slide 44 for audio samples).

On online resource for sound design theory

WolfDaddy — Wed, 12 May 2004 18:32:53 -0800

Don't know ADR from THX? Filmsound.org is for you. Check out their cliches section, and much more besides.

title

Twang — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 16:02:02 -0800

US-made ultrasonic gun uses baby's scream The gun is capable of causing permanent ear damage, even death.
Makes me want to scream.

flimjam — Thu, 17 May 2001 09:52:12 -0800

Audio spotlight directs sound as precisely as, well, a spotlight What an amazing idea, although as the article says "Most of the uses of sound involve spreading it around."